Conn. senators promise to tackle guns

By Byron Tau

12/16/12 10:30 AM EST

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Sen.-elect Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) vowed on Sunday to take up the issue of guns on the floor of the Senate.

"I'm hearing from the community as well as my colleagues in law enforcement: We need to do something," Blumenthal said on ABC's "This Week," citing his years as a prosecutor and his ties to the law enforcement community.

"Out of respect for the families and their grief, I'm not going to be more specific about that conversation," Blumenthal said, just two days after the shooting that killed 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

"Certainly, this horrible episode and incident and crime by this derange person possessed by demons, as you have put it, will spur and transform, I think, the national conversation," Blumenthal said. "I intend to talk about it on the floor of the United States Senate."

"The time for sort of saying that we can't talk about the policy implications of tragedies like this is over," Murphy said. "We're going to be on the floor of the Senate very soon talking about where we go from here."